I, Percy Jackson save a warlock's cat
by willingwriter
Summary: The giants war has all but ended and Percy has survived, barely, so there's nothing left for the demigod but to return home to his worried mother- just for the holidays. During his stay, he bravely saves a cat called Chairman Meow but unfortunately is tracked down and kidnapped by the cat's disgruntled owner Magnus Bane and his friends.
1. I challenge a cyclops

**_Obviously I do not own these characters, they belong to their respective owners, who have done such an amazing job of creating these characters that I won't even attempt to usurp them._**

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**Chapter one**

**Percy's POV**

"Percy, where are you going?" mum asked with thinly veiled concern.

I checked my pockets for Riptide, my sword, which currently looked like an ordinary disposable ballpoint but once uncapped, turned into a wicked looking sword. If you didn't know already, my name is Percy Jackson and I'm what you call a demigod. My father is Poseidon god of the sea, one of the big three, which means I get chased around by monsters a _lot_. In fact I recently defeated Gaea with the help of my friends the Romans, see I'm Greek and generally we don't get along as in the last time we got together world war 2 happened, we managed to lull her back to sleep. Now I'm home and I guess I understand why mum is so anxious, the thing is months ago Hera/Juno wiped my memory and I was missing for a few months and even though it's not my fault I feel bad for putting my mum through that.

"Just be careful," said Paul Blofis, my stepfather the wrinkles around his eyes also deepening in concern.

I gave my mum a long hug and Paul an awkward handshake thing- I was totally cool with him being with my mum and all but since I was always at camp or on a quest I didn't have much experience with being with him. "I'm not going far mum, I just want to take a walk."

My mum smiled while handing me a paper bag, I eagerly unwrapped it to find it filled with my mum's homemade blue chocolate chip cookies, it was buttery and warm and all kinds of delicious. I should probably explain about the blue cookies, see ever since my ex stepfather, smelly Gabe, told my mum that there was no such thing as blue food everything she cooked or baked me was always blue.

"Thanks mum." And with that I was out the door and onto busy streets of Manhattan.

I walked around for a long time periodically taken a bite of my cookie. I missed this, walking down the street with no monsters chasing after me, I knew it couldn't last; I'm a demigod and nine out of ten our lives ended in tragedy, especially if you were a child of the big three.

"_Meow, meow_." I looked around the streets trying to find the source of the noise because whatever it was it sounded in distress. I finally tracked the sound to a deserted alley way where a poor black cat was being strangled by a big ugly Cyclops, which I was probably related to. Cyclops are born from the union of nature spirits and gods- well _a _god in particular. If you haven't already guessed- Poseidon.

"Get away from the cat." I uncapped Riptide just to show I meant business.

**Alec's POV**

Jace and Clary were sat cuddling in the library, and Isabelle, my sister was busy having a phone conversation with her kind-of boyfriend Simon, after the whole Simon losing his memory thing I didn't know where they stood and neither did I care, when I received a text from Magnus, my warlock boyfriend.

_Alec, U there? Come quickly, it's an emergency._

_Magnus? What's wrong? _

I sent back worriedly but unfortunately he didn't reply. I stared at the screen for two minutes but still nothing.

"Jace get up, I think Magnus is in trouble," I said while hurriedly showing him the text- I didn't want to waste any time.

Jace frowned. "What can scare a powerful warlock?"

Clary and Isabelle were already rushing out to the training room to gather weapons and their gear, at least that's what I assumed they were doing.

I paled suddenly, "you don't think he's been kidnapped again, do you?"

Jace stood up, took out a seraph blade and twirled in his hands. "Well, let's go find out, shall we? After we change of course."

I knocked urgently on Magnus's apartment door, literally counting the seconds until he opened it. Soon he stood in the doorway, his hair sparkly and dishevelled, like usual but there were bags under his eyes and his eyeliner was smeared- a sure sign he hadn't slept well. I hugged him tightly, my heart beating loudly with relief, clearly he was okay.

A minute later we were in Magnus's flat which was ridiculously messy- as expected.

"Why didn't you reply?" I asked still a little bit angry and worried.

"Yeah, it'd have saved us all the trouble of dashing here," replied Jace as he toyed with his seraph blade, Isabelle only scowled while Clary looked concerned.

Magnus sighed and ran his hand through his hair further dishevelling it. "Sorry, I lost my phone somewhere in this mess. I've been looking for Chairman Meow all day."

Jace blinked. "Your cat?"

"Yes, my cat." Magnus was clearly aggravated. "I can't find her anywhere."

"Why don't you use a tracking spell."

"My dear Isabelle, that would have been an excellent idea if I hadn't already tried it and got nothing."

Isabelle scowled, "no need to snap at me. I didn't lose your cat."

I glared at my sister, couldn't she see how worked up Magnus was? I stood up, walked to where Magnus paced and coaxed him into to sitting down with me on the love seat.

"How hard can it be to find a cat?" Asked Jace, as he absentmindedly rubbed Clary's hand. "I mean it needs food and water but then again looking at this place I scarcely doubt it has either. If I was your cat I would run away too."

Clary play punched her boyfriend's arm. "Magnus we'll help you find your cat but er do you have something we can wear?" she gestured to their shadow hunter gear. "We can't go around the streets of New York dressed like this."

"I can't believe we got all geared up for this. Where are the monsters? And why do you need _all _of us to help you find one stupid cat?"

"Jace, shut up," I muttered.

Magnus scowled at Jace, his hand suddenly sparking, "I help you shadow hunters all the time and if you want that help to continue I suggest-"

"Let's just find the stupid cat before it gets dark. I have a date with Simon and I'll be extremely pissed if I miss it."

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**Liked it? Hated it? I really don't mind as long as you have a legitimate reason for disliking it.**

**"-". _willingwriter_**


	2. I save a cat

**New at this fanfic thing, so I hope you like it and that the characters aren't too OC**

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Chapter two

**Percy's POV**

_**Previously: I finally tracked the sound to a deserted alley way where a poor black cat was being strangled by a big ugly Cyclops which I was probably related to. Cyclops were born from the union of nature spirits and gods- well a god in particular. If you haven't already guessed- Poseidon. **_

"_**Get away from the cat." I uncapped Riptide, just to show I meant business.**_

"Demigod, much more delicious than cats," the cyclops responded, tossing the cat away- fortunately, it landed on it's feet, with an annoyed hiss.

The Cyclops was clearly just a baby, it was over six feet and reminded me of my half brother Tyson, but unlike Tyson it was mean and angry. It tried to swipe at me with a crude looking club but I dodged and used Riptide to slash at its middle causing it to cower in pain. Without hesitation I slashed again with Riptide, this time the blow was fatal and caused the Cyclops to dissolve into ash, probably already on its way to Tataurus.

I stood in the almost empty alley way staring pensively at the cat. Its fur was dark and blended with the shadows caused by the darkening sky. I looked up at the sky in alarm. Damn, I was late and Annabeth was going be angry- she was arriving today, after spending two weeks with her father and step-family in San Francisco, and instead of being in the airport waiting to greet her like a good boyfriend, I was being waylaid by a cat. A cat which was presently meowing and coiling it body round my feet. Now, what was I going to do with it? I could take it home with me, I thought while looking into its reflective green eyes, which watched me curiously, the expression almost human. I knew my mum wouldn't mind if I brought home a cat. She'd be glad to nurture it, but the tag meant it wasn't a stray and that someone somewhere was probably missing it.

I leaned down to read its collar, a thin red strap with a heart shaped tag dangling at the front, it read _Chaimarn Mowe_ or something. Below it, there was a small note.

_Fi fondu clal Mganus Baen ta- _

At that point I gave up, frustrated, my dyslexia was causing the letters to dance, and being a demigod meant using a telephone would be impossible, it'd be like sending a flare into the sky and yelling 'monsters, please come get me.' Why couldn't Mganus Binn or whatever have left an email, but I probably wouldn't have been able to read _that_ either. Was it unreasonable to expect a cat to come with instructions in ancient Greek? On second thought, no one answer that.

"Fine, you can come home with me. But first thing tomorrow I'm finding your owner." I grudgingly picked up the cat and began my walk home.

**Alec's POV**

This alley way was damp and smelled of stale pee and vomit which was a contrast to the _other_ alley way which smelt of rubbish bins and homeless people. We had been searching for Chairman Meow for hours and by the Angel it felt _longer_. Isabelle had long since ditched us to make her date with Simon, leaving me alone with Magnus- not that I minded, but alley ways weren't romantic; no matter the situation. Jace had decided the search would be faster if we split up, he and Clary had left over an hour ago, regularly sending status reports, in the form of texts, which read:

_What does Magnus's cat luk like again? Cos I just saw one with one eye ;)_

Saves to say I was _very _tempted to switch off my phone.

"Magnus, why can't we just wait for someone to call in, Chairman Meow does have a tag, doesn't he?"

Magnus had gotten more and more depressed as we searched, his behaviour seeming to indicate Chairman Meow fleeing was his fault- not that I thought it was.

"I, the powerful warlock of Brooklyn" he said self-deprecatingly, "couldn't sense my bloody cat and that can only means two things, either he's dead- which will be unfortunate because I really liked him- or in the hands of something that's blocking me. Those two things are bad."

"Stop looking so guilty, like it's your fault he ran away, plus looking guilty is _my_ thing," I teased, I wasn't very good at making jokes, that was Jace's thing, but I did coax a reluctant smile from him. "Is there a reason Chairman Meow would run away?"I asked, curious.

Magnus sighed, his hair sticking up in ways that made me long to reach over and smooth it down. "I might have fed him dog food."

I blinked, really confused. "You gave your cat _dog_ food."

Magnus blushed, the expressions was so foreign I almost blinked again. "He wouldn't eat what I fed him anymore."

"You feed him Chinese food whenever you don't feel like going shopping. Cats don't _eat _Chinese."

"Well, I gave him something that Woolsey once recommend, when I had this exact problem a century ago."

"With Chairman Meow?"I asked in surprise.

"No, another cat."

I didn't know whether to be amused by the situation or- no, looking around the dank smelling alley way, I was decidedly _not _amused. "You took advice from a _werewolf_ about your cat?"

"Yes, Alexander Lightwood, now can you stop emphasising a word in every sentence! I am trying to concentrate." Magnus leaned on a graphitised wall, his eyes closed.

"Are you trying the tracking spell again?"

"Yes and its working."

Magnus walked almost automatically towards the direction were he could sense Chairman Meow. He took me through different streets and alley ways, different routes and houses until he suddenly stopped.

I looked at the house we now stood in front of, a small but nice apartment that was surrounded by other small and nice apartments. To be honest, it was pretty unremarkable, the architecture was nowhere as nice as it was in Alicante- a mythical, as far as humans are concerned, city for shadow hunters- but then again most places weren't.

"Are you sure this is the place?" I asked Magnus.

"Yes."

"I'll have to go alone because of your," I gestured to his eyes, his pupil were elliptical just like a cat's, it was what marked him as a warlock and was pretty mild in comparison to other warlocks I've met- most of which had different coloured _skins_. Currently we were both invisible to the human eye, we didn't want to attract unnecessary attention, especially since I was still in my shadow hunter gear. I'd texted Jace and Clary our directions but they'd yet to arrive or respond, for that matter.

"It's the flat on the middle floor, second window on the right." Magnus looked up and pointed at the window of the flat. It was too tiny and too far up to see into. "It's probably just some random stranger who found my cat. I hope they had at least fed it."

I rolled my eyes. "Like _you_ do."

He looked offended for a second but then leaned down and gave me a swift kiss. "Be careful, Alec."

I wanted to kiss him for longer, a _lot _longer, but I had to get the cat, we couldn't very well stand in front of stranger's apartment making out instead of getting the cat we had been searching for for hours. So I reluctantly climbed up the stairs and pushed open the revolving door. The doorman looked curiously at the empty doorway, then shrugged, probably thinking it was just the wind- typical mundane. I took the elevator to the middle floor and not long after, I was knocking on the door I think held Magnus's cat.

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**Loved it? Hated it? If you care enough please review, I'll be glad to hear from you.**

_**"-". willingwriter**_


	3. Unexpected 'guests'

**A/N: this is **_**all **_**Percy's POV, the next will be Alec's or maybe someone else from TMI, don't know yet.**

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**Percy's POV**

Mum wasn't upset like I expected- just sad, when I walked in she glanced up at me while laying out the dishes and just smiled. "Monsters?"

I gave her a hug, my hands where free since I'd dropped the cat in the living room, and assisted her with laying out the dishes. "Just one, a Cyclops."

My mum sighed and went to check what she was cooking, her shoulders were hunched, as if she was carrying the weight of the sky- and trust me, I know from experience how _that _feels like. Ever since I lost my memories, went missing and nearly died defeating Gaea my mum has been on edge, now she looks at me like she can see the date of my death and it's not that far off.

"Mum, I know you're worried about me."

"Percy, it's nothing just me being paranoid," my mum said while expertly flipping what I could now see were burgers, despite the fact that I was in the middle of a serious conversation, my stomach grumbled with hunger- the cookies were delicious but not substantial.

"Mum, where's Annabeth or Paul?" I asked, surprised to notice she was the only one at home.

"Paul should be coming home soon, he went to pick Annabeth from the airport but she Iris messaged him saying she had been delayed by a monster attack and had missed her flight. She'll be taking the one that lands tomorrow."

Typical, I couldn't help feeling disappointed, sometimes being a demigod was so inconvenient; I knew Annabeth would be fine unless the monster was part spider, but I had a feeling she was over her arachnophobia. "Oh, well what's for dinner?"

"Pizza, burgers and fries, today is junk food holiday." Mum smiled. I may have already told you this- but my mum is the best person in the world. She's beautiful inside and out, with eyes that sparkled and changed colour in the light. She was going a bit grey at the temples but she was too vibrant a person to be old, she often wore her long hair loose and she's sacrificed a lot for me, including spending years of her life with smelly Gabe when I was younger to cover up my demigod smell. If she didn't end up in Elysium after she's gone, a thought I dreaded but then again knowing my luck she'd probably outlive me, then Hades and I would have serious problems.

"Couldn't make it blue?" I teased

She set the burgers on a plate having decided they were done. "Some things can't be made blue but I can colour the burger bread with some food dye."

I grimaced. "I'll pass and you must know you're the only mum who'd let her growing son eat this much junk food."

"But unlike other mums, I don't have to worry about fat, you'll just burn off the calories anyway and you need the energy."

I wasn't going to argue, I was too used to junk food, at camp you could order anything you liked all you had to do was imagine it, but it wasn't a problem because demigods need meat to carry out our job description- what is our job description you might ask, nothing much, just...killing monsters before they kill us and going on quests for ungrateful gods. You know the usual.

Soon the food was done. Mum outdid herself, everything looked delicious, now if I could only taste it but mum was adamant that we wait for Paul.

"_Meow, meow_."

My mum startled at the sound, her hand going to her heart. "What was that?"

"The cat," I mumbled, more like gurgled because my mouth was filled with orange juice- mum believed anything else would just ruin my appetite.

"We don't have a cat." She looked confused.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you. I rescued a cat that was about to be eaten by a Cyclops."

"_Meow, meow_."

The confusion in her eyes cleared. "Is it a stray? And why does it keep meowing?"

"I'm looking for the owner first thing tomorrow, it was getting dark I couldn't it leave there by itself to get eaten by another monster, that'd totally defeat the point of saving it. It's probably hungry, I'll feed it milk."

"I'll do it."Mum was already moving towards the fridge when the doorbell rang. "It's probably Paul, maybe he forgot his keys. Percy-"

"On it," I said, already out of my seat.

I was a little surprised to find a stranger at the door but the feeling quickly transformed into alarm when I took in his outfit and the weird tattoos that decorated his arms. He was dressed head to toe in black and his stance was combatant, he reminded me a little of Frank when he had finally grown into himself, but really, they looked nothing alike. This guy was tall, he looked to be a few years older than me and his expression was surly- like an older, toned version of Nico, son of Hades. Although he could easily have been a son of Ares, but my instincts told me he wasn't a demigod.

"Hello, my name is Alexander Lightwood and I'm here for the cat."

I blinked in surprise, I expected him to say something more along the lines of- _I'm here to kill you or I've been sent by Ares to teach you a lesson in manners, punk._

"Are you the owner?" I asked eyeing him suspiciously, maybe the cat was special, a powerful instrument like my old friend Ophiotaurus or as I'd named him Bessie- I didn't realise he was not a she or that he already had a name. Whoever killed Ophiotaurus and sacrificed his entrails would have the power to destroy the gods and really Bessie was just as harmless as he looked. If you weren't scared of monsters that were half cow, half goat, that is.

"No. My friend-," he blushed when he said this, making me suspect the person was more than a friend, "owns it. We've been searching all over for Chairman Meow."

Oh. So that's what the collar said.

"Why didn't he come get the cat himself and how did you know the cat was here?"

"Magnus is different and he hates it when people stare at him." I wanted to know what he meant by different but felt it'd be rude to ask. "Can I see Chairman Meow?"

Against my better judgement I invited him inside, I still had Riptide in my pocket, if he turned out to be an enemy I'll just slice him. What if he was just an average evil mortal, a killer or a thief? Humans could be monsters too but I sensed no threat from this guy, presently at least. And he knew stuff about the cat, so he couldn't have been making it up.

When I came into the living room Chairman Meow was hungrily licking at a bowl of milk, which made me wonder just what Alexander and his 'friend' did to the cat. "He seems very hungry," I commented.

"His owner can be pretty negligent," said Alec, staring at the cat in relief. Chairman Meow noticing Alexander left the bowl of milk to rub its body at his feet. Traitor. Alexander scooped the cat up and rubbed it fondly behind the ears.

"Is it Paul?" mum yelled from the kitchen.

"No, it's the owner of the cat."

"Oh."

Alexander looked more than a little uncomfortable sitting down on the patterned sofa, in fact he kept looking around so much I wouldn't be surprised if he had ADHD."Cool tattoos," I said conversationally.

"What tattoos?" he looked confused, so I gestured to the tats on his arm.

"They have their uses," he replied cryptically. He stood up with the cat. "C'mon Chairman Meow, we better get going, Magnus is waiting for us." At the name 'Magnus' the cat hissed. "I know, he's sorry. He'll never take advice from Woolsey Scott again."

The conversation was very odd; I started to wonder whether he could talk to cats the way I could talk to horses. "You understand him?"

"Not normally but right now there's only one thing he could be hissing about." Again I was tempted to ask what exactly that _thing _was but I didn't want to be impolite. "Why didn't you call the number on the tag when you found him?" Alec asked sounding put off.

My ADHD had distracted me but I now remembered that he never answered me when I'd asked how he knew where to find his cat. "How did you know where to find him?" I countered.

"I asked people on the streets and was lucky enough to find an old lady who had seen a boy carrying a black cat to this apartment." His excuse was plausible but it didn't feel like the truth. "Why didn't you call the number on the tag or were you just planning to keep the cat?" Alexander sounded angry, his sky blue eyes pinning me down.

I held up my hand, jeez what was with this guy. "No, I was planning to find his owner tomorrow." Even though I felt slightly embarrassed admitting it, I felt this Alexander guy should know so he didn't go around accusing people, "also I have dyslexia so I couldn't read a name as weird as your 'friend's' and I don't own a cell phone."

Alexander had the grace to look shamefaced, he stammered an apology, he's eyes sincere when they met mine.

"It's cool, you didn't know." he might have said something more but we were distracted by the ringing of the door bell, a second later my mum answered it.

"Hello. Can I help you?" I could hear my mum's voice through the opened living room door.

"We're looking for our friend, Alec. He came for a cat?" the voice was deep and had a slightly British accent mixed with something else- an accent Alexander or should I say Alec also had, but it wasn't as strong- and probably belonged to someone my age.

"We were wondering if he's here. We're sorry to bother you." The voice definitely belonged to a girl and the accent was one hundred percent New Yorker.

"Friends of yours?"

Alec looked pained. "I should probably go deal with Jace before he says something stupid." From the way Alec said it I could tell Jace said something stupid often. "It was nice to meet you er..."

"Percy. Percy Jackson."

Alec just nodded, picked up Chairman Meow and went to meet with his friends who were waiting in the corridors. Curious, I followed.

"Seriously, couldn't you guys have waited outside?" Alec said angrily, I couldn't see who he was talking too because his shoulders were blocking them but I did catch a glimpse of golden blonde and bright red hair. My mum stood awkwardly by the side, seeing me she made a gesture that I translated to 'I will be in the kitchen if you need me', and walked off.

"Magnus was starting to get worried. Geez, what was the worst that could happen? You get pepper sprayed by an old lady. Ouch, Clary you have sharp elbows."

"And your jokes need work," the female responded jokingly.

"Clary, that hurts and Alec stop scowling so much, or facelifts wouldn't be enough." Jace was proving to be almost as bad as Leo- and trust me, Leo was _bad_. I was actually surprised to discover that Leo was a son of Hephaestus; he would have made the Hermes cabin proud.

"Let's just go," Alec responded churlishly.

I debated with myself, follow them or stay at home and eat dinner? I was too curious, plus I'd not totally erased the possibility that they could be cat-nappers or cat burglars or whatever it's called. So I waited for them to walk out of the building, watched them- from the small window in the kitchen, mum didn't ask questions, meet up with a pale teenager who leaned against a street lamp.

"Mum, I'm going out," I yelled, grabbing my jacket and walking out the door before I could change my mind.

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**Sorry if this chapter was a bit anticlimactic, but really what would you expect? I mean they're both trying to keep a secret and it's not like Percy or Alec will be overcome with the sudden need to blab. Don't worry when Percy follows them and overhears a secret conversation well... all bets are off.**

**Loved it? Hated it? Characters felt OC ? Please tell me, I don't mind justified criticism. **

**"-"****.**_**willingwriter**_


	4. We were followed

**A/N: Next chapter will have more drama, I pinkie swear. Although I have say, I'm extremely proud of myself, I've never written this much in a week- unless it's homework. **

**I'm pretty forgetful, so I'm doing this just once more: I relinquish all rights to the characters and origins of the idea to the respectful authors of Percy Jackson and The mortal instruments.**

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Chapter 4

Alec's POV

Magnus leaned against a lamp pole, his shadowed expression brightening when he caught sight of us. "Chairman Meow," he cried out in delight, but when he tried to take the cat out of my hands it scratched him.

"Bad kitty." Jace was laughing, his golden eyes sparkling with humour. I scowled at him, not finding it funny, while worriedly checking out Magnus's hand. The three lined scratches on his arm were superficial and even though I knew it'd heal in no time, I couldn't help feeling concerned.

"Does it hurt?"

"Alec, I'm the High Warlock of Brooklyn, I've been alive for centuries, been in millions of battles, I've kidnapped and tortured. So believe me when I say, I do not flinch from cat scratches."

I winced at the word torture, when Magnus had gone missing I'd been mad with worry, in fact I would have happily helped Jace run Sebastian through with a sword- actually, I would have done that anyway.

Clary looked up from her phone. "Jace, I've got to go, my mum is worried and I don't want her to send Luke after me."

Jace kicked a stone over as we walked away from Percy's house. "Don't know why, Sebastian is gone."

Clary blushed. "Yeah, that's not what she's worried about."

I looked around the street, uninterested in the conversation. The streets were a little crowded and people were starting to stare. "We should probably duck behind that alley and go invisible; even though it's dark we still look pretty suspicious."

We did, the familiar marks of the glamour rune covering my forearm. The alley was just as disgusting as the ones I'd visited today but we continued down it because there was a shortcut nearby. As we were walking, I couldn't help but wonder what things were going to be like now that our lives were no longer in danger- well not _constantly_ anyway. I dreaded the future, my biggest fear was that I'd grow old and Magnus would leave, this fear had led to some irrational decisions. I still can't believe I'd listen to Magnus's ex, Camille, and even _considered_ her proposition to make him mortal. Magnus and I had broken up briefly after that and as a result; I was miserable, he was miserable and _even _Chairman Meow was miserable.

"So what is she worried about?" Jace asked, interrupting my musings.

"Well, er that... it doesn't matter."

"Spit it out Clarissa Fray."

"She's worried that, if left alone long enough, you and I might do what other teenagers do in the same situation."

Magnus having subdued Chairman Meow was holding him under one arm, the glitter in his hair reflecting the colours of our surroundings. "A reasonable fear but please refrain from more sharing. What you do in your spare time is your business."

Clary's face was now almost as red as her hair. Jace grinned, the corner of his mouth lifting up into a familiar smirk. "I never ask what happens when you and Alec have a 'sleep over.'" I scowled at Jace, unable to prevent my cheeks from heating.

"And if you want to still be able to grow hair," replied Magnus menacingly, "you wouldn't."

Jace glared at Magnus. "Does this crabbiness come with old age or were you just born with it?"

"So are you attending the Clave feast next week?" Clary asked quickly, clearly trying to diffuse the tension.

"You mean the one thrown to show that the Clave are now 'friends' to the downworlders. Even after what they did to the faeries?"

Jace looked at him thoughtfully. "You really didn't approve the Claves decision. You don't think the faeries should be banned from carrying weapons. " It was a statement.

Magnus sighed. "What's the point? You humans make the same mistakes over and over again. I think it's because your lives are so short that you don't have time to _learn _from them. The faeries have long memories and are well versed in the art of revenge. One day reckoning will come."

I thought about that, the Clave weren't always right, not even my father- and he was the Inquisitor. We as a race thought we were better, better than mundanes, better than downworlders, better than everything- ironically it was one of the few traits we shared with mundanes.

"At least when that day comes we'd have _something_ to do, killing the average low level demon is quickly losing its appeal."

"You're a soldier without a war to fight," Clary replied solemnly, but ruined the effect with an ill timed laugh.

"Nah, there are always demons to kill but that's just a waste of my skills."

I rolled my eyes, I'd have taken offense, but after over seven years of being Jace's parabatai I was used to his ego. And even I had to admit, the demons we've been killing lately have been no competition.

We were five minutes away from the Institute; it was now completely dark except for the glow of streetlamps and houses. Luckily, we weren't near any main streets, so weren't besieged by a constant stream of people- this _was_ New York, after all.

"We should go clubbing tomorrow," Jace said casually, "I would have suggested we go today but we wasted our time looking for Magnus's stupid cat." I blinked, confused. "Heard about this new club that might have hordes of demons that gather every week- doing god knows what, the club is possibly even run by them, bet we can find an adversary worth our time."

That sounded interesting. "Does my mum know?"

"We faced Sebastian on our own; we do not need to tell your mum _everything _we do." I imagined my mum's calm, cold demeanour, the flash of anger in her eyes, and shuddered.

"We'll have to tell her," Clary said quickly, her face going a little pale.

In the silence that followed, I heard what sounded like footsteps, footsteps that weren't ours. I turned, but saw nothing except a hungry cat that was scavenging bins for food. But the houses on the street cast dense shadows and the trees, though sparse, were so big, that it was possible for someone or _something_, to hide.

"I think we're being followed," I whispered. We all stood to attention, our ears concentrating on the night sounds. There was the hoot of an owl and the hiss of a cat- most likely the one who'd been scavenging bins. Then there was a shuffling type of noise.

"Demon?" Clary mouthed. We were still walking; not wanting our quarry to know that we were on to it. The shuffling sound wasn't very loud, but as shadowhunters, we had better hearing than mundanes and were used to paying attention to our surroundings, demons didn't always come announced with a huge 'bang.'

I motioned for us to walk into an empty alley way covered in debris- they were coming up too frequently tonight. The alley only had one exit, the way we'd come in, and on the other side was a dead end. Once inside, we slowed our steps so whoever was shuffling could catch up, when it was close enough Jace signalled for him and I to turn and give chase, while Clary and Magnus- who had hid behind a bin close to the exit, stood up to block it. I assumed that Chairman Meow still hid behind the bin.

Jace, being faster than normal shadowhunters due to the excess angel blood, was ahead of me. Our quarry, what I could see of it- it was pretty dark -was humanoid and clothed. 'It' ran off, as soon as it realised we were giving chase, towards the only exit. Which was currently blocked by Magnus, who was armed with his usual blue sparks, and Clary, who held Heosphoros- her shortsword-firmly in her right hand.

"Stop," I yelled, already regretting leaving my bow and arrows at Magnus's. Jace pulled out a sword from his belt and tossed me a thin dagger. "We've got you surrounded."

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	5. I'm spotted

**A/N: next chapter **_**will **_**be more interesting but in the mean time hope you enjoy this one. I felt bad for not updating as recently as I could so I got to work on the next chapter too.**

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Chapter 5

Percy's POV

"_**We've got you surrounded**_." Alec had yelled.

What had I gotten myself into? I wasn't surprised, not really, I had a knack for trouble and it always seemed to find me. It even explained the huge amount of buildings I'd been blamed for burning down or blowing up- not that it was _my _fault. But _this_ was.

_Earlier today_

I followed Alec and his friends because I suspected that they might be crooked, his clothes were strange and he looked ready for battle. Why would anyone dress like that to find a cat?

I'd stalked them for about twenty minutes; stayed back enough that I wouldn't be caught and so I'd only heard snatches of their conversations.

"_We should probably duck behind that alley and go invisible; even though it's dark we still look pretty suspicious_." I trailed them into the alley, all they'd done was bring out a slim metal object and draw weird marks around their forearms, except for a guy with glittery hair- his hair appeared to have been liberally streaked with sparkles- who just whistled. I was too far away to make to really out their faces, the darkness wasn't helping, so I couldn't tell how old the glittery hair guy was. Then they'd continued on walking as if that solved everything. They couldn't honestly believe they were _invisible_, could they?

For a while I couldn't hear anything, their conversations were low, as if they didn't want to risk anyone overhearing. But when we finally got to a quiet, deserted area, they stopped being as cautious with their volumes, so I could make out a bit more. Not that it even made sense.

"_Does this crabbiness come with old age or were you just born with it_?" Jace had asked the boy with glittery hair. I hadn't really seen him but I suspected glittery hair guy was a teenager, maybe a little older than me, which would make the comment about old age slightly odd unless it was meant sarcastically. I didn't think it was.

Their conversations got odder the more it progressed. They mentioned things like faeries and demons as if they were _real_. I was a demigod for the gods sakes, I would be the last person qualified to call someone crazy, so either this 'humans' were something other or they took their online role playing games _way _too seriously. My instincts pointed towards the first option. If only I had Annabeth with me, she might have been able to make sense of this, gods knows she was smarter than me.

I was lost in my thoughts, automatically dogging their steps, contemplating what these people could be, gods? Not likely, something would have given them away, not demigods, that's for sure, when I noticed they'd had stopped walking. They were whispering but I couldn't make out a single thing, yet I had a feeling they might have heard me following them. I hid behind a tree- just in time to avoid being caught by Alec, whose eyes scanned the area before moving on, obviously dismissing it as nothing. I sighed in relief.

They didn't look back again but instead dived into another alley, I followed cautiously. But it was already too late when I realised I could only spot the backs of two people, the red head and the glittery guy were gone. I turned to run, sensing it was a trap but I could already hear the sounds of heavy pursuit, the blond, Jace, was rapidly catching up to me and even worse, the exit was now blocked by the glittery guy and the red head. I was halted by the sight of blue sparks coming out of glittery guy's hand and the shortsword that the red head gripped firmly in her hand, her determined expression more than making up for her lack of height.

I gaped in surprise. This people weren't mortal, I suspected they weren't even Greek.

"Stop, we've got you surrounded." I heard Alec shout behind me.

I cursed in ancient Greek, I could really use wisegirl's help right now. I obviously couldn't use Riptide to defend myself for two reasons, one- I didn't know what they were and my sword only worked on monsters. Two- I couldn't risk exposing who I was or more precisely _what _I was. So the only thing left was to play it off, a simple mortal concerned about a cat. I could do that.

I turned around slowly, my hands held up in a universal gesture of supplication. "I was worried about the cat."

Alec seemed stunned, his blue eyes glittered with recognition. "Percy?"

I nodded, and then gestured to Chairman Meow who sat patiently on the lid of a large bin. "I was worried that you were a cat burglar."

The blond, Jace, blinked and then snorted. Alec seeming to come to his senses dropped the dagger he had obviously been planning to throw at me if I attempted to make a run for it, I had a feeling he wouldn't have missed. Jace still held his sword, its tip roughly pointed at my chest, but his grip was more relaxed, less prone to lunge.

"Damn it, he's a mundane."

I looked around for the speaker, it was the red head, I was startled to see that from up close she looked a little like Rachel Dare, our camp oracle. Her face was pale and her features were delicate, she'd have been harmless if not for that really sharp looking sword.

"So now you toss around words like mundane, huh. I thought you found it insulting." Jace was still smirking when I turned back to him, his hair gleaming gold in the moonlight.

"I'm over it," Red head responded petulantly.

I would have been relieved- they bought my excuse, at least I assumed that's what _mundane _meant- if not for the close scrutiny of glitter guy, whose hands were still filled with blue sparks, and even more startling- his silted pupils. He had eyes just like a cat's!

"Aren't we still glamoured?" asked glitter guy. The others nodded, seeming puzzled by the question, then as one they all turned to me.

"He can see us." Alec sounded bewildered, his blue eyes unnaturally wide. I myself felt panic; I had to convince this people that I was as ordinary as they come. If only I could manipulate the mist like Hazel could.

Jace looked at me curiously. They all looked stunned except for glitter guy who looked pensive, his eyes older than someone his age should be. He's immortal, a part of my brain whispered. I had met too many gods and immortals not to recognise that world weary look, as if you to say what you've seen is just the tip of the iceberg.

"Maybe he's a shadowhunter."

"Clary, then we would know who he is."

"You didn't know who I was when we first met."

Jace ran his finger through his hair, messing it up in a way that left it looking even more perfect. "I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you were a special case."

The read head, Clary, scowled fiercely, which made me think of kitten who thought it was a lion, the intensity of her scowl decreasing when Jace lightly kissed her lips. "Aw, Fray. Don't be mad."

Glitter guy shot them a look that was part annoyed, part amused. Alec just looked exasperated, even I felt a little awkward. But then again, I was trapped in an alley with weapon brandishing teenagers, I had more than a right to feel a little uncomfortable.

Alec looked thoughtful. "I don't think he's a shadowhunter, his last name is Jackson."

"His parents could be disguising his last name," Clary retorted, her green eyes flashing.

"Yes, but to what end? Shadowhunters are a close knit, kind of messed up, family, we _know_ everyone. Clary, you're the only exception and everyone knew your mum. We've _met_ his, she seems perfectly nice but she's a mundane," Jace replied.

"I am a mundane," I spoke up. "I'm just gifted with clear sight, I can see through the mist er I mean glamour." That was the explanation for humans who could see through the mist, I just hoped the excuse also worked with shadowhunters.

"What do you think Magnus?" Alec asked glitter guy.

Magnus examined me closely. "I don't think he's a shadowhunter." Wow, seriously, couldn't they tell the difference between me and their own kind. I didn't even know what a shadowhunter was, maybe someone who hunted shadows but something told me that was a dumb idea.

"Maybe he's a downworlder. Are you a downworlder, seagreen?" Jace asked arrogantly. It was sad that this evening wasn't even in my top ten 'most ridiculous situations I've ever been in' list.

"Seagreen?" I echoed, puzzled.

"Your eyes. They're so pretty," Jace replied caustically.

I was starting to get a little annoyed. "Jealousy does not become you," I smirked, "and I have a name 'blondie'."

Jace rolled his eyes. "I've yet to meet anyone prettier than me and today isn't the day. Anyway, are you a downworlder, seagreen?"

"One, I don't even know what that means. Two, I've already told you I'm perfectly ordinary."

Jace looked me up and down, taking my measure. "Then why aren't you freaking out?"

"I can see through glamours as a result I've seen a lot of weird stuff, I've always figured they were just dreams or hallucinations."

"Weird stuff, like what?" Clary asked curiously. Like Cyclops, giants, gods and flying horses. Half dolphin people, medusa's head, after I cut it off, of course, and the inside of Tataurus- _that _kind of weird stuff. But of course I couldn't say all that.

"Faeries, demons and monsters, _really_ ugly monsters." They all looked at me with varying degrees of interest.

"What he says could be true."

"That's not the point Magnus, what are we going to do? We've just drawn our weapons against a mundane."

Jace turned to look at Alec. "A mundane that was _following_ us," he turned to glare at me, "_why_ were you following us?"

This people _had _to have ADHD, I had just addressed this. "Because a random stranger dressed in scary clothes," I gestured to Alec's outfit, now noticing that both Jace and Clary wore something similar, "showed at my house claiming a cat. I thought maybe the cat's real owner was rich or something and I was aiding a catnapper. He also managed to find me in like no time at all. _Very_ suspicious."

Alec blushed in embarrassment, Jace smirked. "Ha, he thought you were a cat burglar."

"I'm not a cat burglar, its Magnus's cat." I looked at glitter guy, he nodded in agreement.

"Chairman Meow ran away a few hours ago and I'm not _that _rich." Magnus was smiling at me, his eyes twinkling as if he had me all figured out. I gulped, maybe he did.

"Then I guess it's settled, everyone is exactly who they say they are, now I'd like to go home." I started slowing walking towards exit but as expected none of them moved out of the way.

"We can't let you go till we've figure this out. Plus you might tell people and the consequences would be _very_ bad for you." I'm sure he meant that to be intimidating but I've been threatened with madness by a _god _and death by others. This was nothing. Jace frowned when I didn't cower like he'd obviously been expecting.

"We should take him to the institute. What do you think Magnus?" Clary looked at me with concern.

"Do whatever you like, I'm going straight home to feed my cat, Alec are you coming?"

Alec looked slightly uncomfortable, at first I thought it was from embarrassment then I saw him glance at Jace then back to me. He didn't think Jace could handle this on his own, Jace obviously thought the same thing because he scowled at Alec. "I think I'll stay."

Magnus shrugged, picked up his cat and then kissed Alec goodbye. "Ta, everyone. Au revior."

"You know, just because he's gay doesn't mean he always has to _act _it," Jace commented in the silence that followed.

"So, what do we do about-"

But I was already taking advantage of the space left by Magnus and was too busy running away to hear the rest of what Jace had to say.

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**I really wanted to go into a fight scene but then it started getting long and I'm pretty tired, so I'll save it for the next chapter. Hope you don't get bored.**

**Loved it? Hated it? Review, I'll like some input even if the comments aren't complimentary- within reason, of course.**

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	6. We come to blows

**A/N: I finally updated.**

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Chapter 6

Alec's POV

"Damn it," Jace muttered, as he and I chased after Percy. We were sloshing in dirty alley water, probably caused by the rain and the runoff of questionable fluid, trying to find him; he must have hid because he was nowhere as fast as Jace. And to make matters worse there were many places he could hide in this dump. "Percy," Jace shouted kicking any bin large enough to hide him over, in the process causing a huge mess.

"What are you doing? Littering is against the law," I hissed.

Jace stopped to give me a sardonic smile. "Shadowhunters follow clave law not mundanes," and as if to make a point he kicked over another bin. Then Jace did something he rarely did, he shut up to listen. "He couldn't have gone far. I hear shuffling."

I listened intently too, scanning the streets and examining the shadows closely, even with a rune to improve sight I saw nothing. Jace gestured up to the roof top of one of the houses. I could make out a shape but it was just the chimney. "Jace, I don't see anything," I whispered.

"That's because he's good." And with that Jace leaped onto the roof in a single jump, which was impressive because the house was three stories tall. I, unlike Jace didn't have the power to leap unto tall buildings like a movie super hero and was forced to used a bin as leverage and from then make my way up. Inch by tedious inch.

I wasn't at the roof yet but I could hear the sounds of frantic running, I assumed it was Percy, and the reassuring sounds of pursuit- which _had_ to be Jace.

"All we want to do is talk." I nearly slipped with surprise, Jace had sounded almost gentle.

"Well I'm not interested in what you have to say." I was now at the top and could make out the shadowy forms of both Percy, who looked ready to leap off the roof, and Jace, who was primed to follow.

Sometime during the last thirty minutes the moon's light had been blocked by clouds, but now it resurfaced and in its bright light, I could see what transpired clearly even though both their backs were to me.

Percy leaped but Jace was fast and grabbed onto to him, jumping _with _him. I sighed in relief, I didn't know if Percy Jackson was a mundane or not, but I seriously doubted he could fly. I would not have been able to handle the guilt of possibly have driven him to his death. Then the relief transformed to annoyance as I realised I'd have to climb _all _the way back. Defiantly I leaped off the roof, my hands already primed to grip the window ledge of the window on the bottom story, luckily the blinds were closed and there was no light emanating from the inside, possibly the occupants had gone to sleep or on holiday.

"Let me go." Percy and Jace were rolling on the ground, Jace holding onto Percy with all his strength. Percy kicked, landing a blow to Jace's midsection, Jace grunted but still didn't let go.

"We need to talk to you."

"This is America and I _don't_ want to talk to you."

"You misunderstood; I'm not giving you a choice." I recognised the smirk in Jace's voice.

I decided it was time to intervene, I didn't want the neighbours calling the cops. Jace and I were still glamoured but Percy wasn't, and he was tussling with an invisible foe. Even mundanes, as blind as they were, would notice _that_. They'd probably assume he was drunk or raving mad but either option still involved the local authorities.

"Jace ease up. He's a mundane."

Jace spared me a glance but he only had eyes for Percy. "I'll let him up if he promises not to run."

"Never going to happen." Even though Percy's voice was muffled, I could sense his determination. Percy somehow managed to push Jace off him, slightly panting with exhaustion, he stood to his feet. His bearing was combatant, his hand firmly gripping... a pen?

Jace was sprawled rather inelegantly on the floor; his expression amused as he stood up and brushed the dirt of his clothes. "You really think you can take me on, Seagreen?

Percy didn't respond, in fact he watched Jace attentively, like he was a cobra about to strike. I ran to stand inbetween them, thoroughly irritated, this had been a _long _night and Jace and Percy's standoff was the last thing I needed.

I was just in time to be hit in the stomach- by my own _parabatai_. I started to keel over in pain but shook it off. Enough was enough. It was time for me to take charge.

"Sorry Alec," Jace said in a tone that was more annoyed than apologetic, "that blow was meant for _him_." He was still glaring at Percy over my shoulder.

I scowled. "Stop trying to beat up mundanes, it's the _exact _opposite of what we're supposed to do."

Jace snorted. "Fifty bucks says he's not really a mundane."

Ignoring Jace I turned to face Percy, those sea green eyes were filled with determination and resignation, as if the effort it took to defeat us would be a waste but he could see no other way. I was both insulted and fascinated, he had seen how fast we could move and had matched our speed- well mine, Jace was one of the fastest of our kind. He didn't even look the least bit afraid. "What are you?" I asked.

"A seventeen year old boy with ADHD who really wishes you people will stop asking him the same questions over and over again," he replied.

"Don't be a smartass. I already have one." I gestured to Jace. Percy watched me warily, the pen still in his hands. "Come with us, talk. We'll let you go afterwards, we swear by the angel." I glared at Jace for good measure. He nodded, clearly he got it.

"Try on the river Styx," Percy retorted. "Sorry, I have plans and a girlfriend. And it's a Friday night."

"Translation, I have a bed time." Jace's snark combined with Percy's was starting to feel worse than a demon's venom. And _that _hurt.

"We are trying to help you Percy. Doesn't it suck seeing things you can't understand? "

"Alec, I have dyslexia, it's like that _every_ time I read a book. Look, this has been fun but I have to go, my mum will be worried. And frankly I don't want to go _anywhere_ with you two..." Percy shot us a look that I translated into: _psychos_.

I was tired; I'd spent all night looking for Magnus's cat, now I'm chasing the boy who found him. I was dirty and there were no demons to transfer my frustration to. And worst of all, I'd chosen _this _over spending the rest of the night with my boyfriend.

So without giving it much thought, or time to hesitate, I punched Percy squarely in the face- effectively knocking him out. Judging from his widening eyes, he didn't see it coming. He fell limp unto the ground.

Jace whistled. "Nicely done. Didn't think you had it in you."

"Jace?"

"Yes?"

"You're starting to piss me off."

"I see Magnus's grouchiness is contagious."

I ignored him; instead I picked up Percy's body, his face still frozen in shock. He was quite heavy despite his lithe frame. "Jace, help me." Jace heaved Percy's legs unto his shoulder, while I gripped Percy's middle to my chest.

"What do we do with him?" Jace asked. "We need to find Clary, she's not as fast and the angel knows how angry she is that we left her."

"That _you _left her."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I tilted Percy's body in a silent indication to get moving. We retraced our steps easily, even with the clouds once again concealing the moon, with the help of our sight rune. "_You_ were the first to chase after him. _You_ are the fastest. And most importantly _you _are her boyfriend."

I couldn't see it but I could feel Jace wincing. "I didn't want him to get away. She can handle herself?" He made it sound like a question. Jace loved Clary, for a while he even drove us crazy because of her. They were like addicts, the way they couldn't get enough of each other. It was extremely nauseating and somewhat sweet. I shook my head instinctively. Sweet? Clearly I was losing it.

"If she can take on Sebastian then she can take on anything," I said reassuringly. "We'll probably find her on the way; we should take Percy to Magnus's. My mum will freak if she sees Percy and we don't need the clave on our backs."

"Sounds good. We'll-"

"You guys are the worst!" Clary's colour was high and little tendrils of her hair had escaped its ponytail, she was also panting. Even more alarming, her clothes were torn in places. "You left me in an _alleyway_."

She'd come out unexpectedly from what seemed like nowhere, but on closer inspection was a gap between one of the houses we were walking past. I couldn't see Jace's expression but I suspected he looked suitable chastised.

"I'm sorry. I kind of forgot about everything but chasing after Percy. I'll-"

"Make it up to me? I was attacked by a demon." Clary did not look very forgiving. Her green eyes were narrowed, and her nostrils were flared. Jace, much to my chagrin, dropped Percy's legs and rushed to her side. Percy's legs dragged on the ground as I struggled under he's weight

"I couldn't let him get away," Jace put up his hand to stop Clary's reply, "I know that's no excuse. But did you get him?"Clary looked puzzled. "The demon."

Clary smirked, an expression that made her look scarily like Isabelle. "It's now a pile of goo."

"That is _so_ hot."

Jace kissed Clary for way longer than I'd have liked to witness. I'd have rolled my eyes in annoyance but I was too busy using all of my energy to carry Percy. "Little help here?"

Jace, reluctantly, broke off the kiss to give me blank look- which I did not appreciate. Fortunately, he recovered his senses and helped me carry Percy's body- much to my relief.

Clary looked at Percy curiously. "Er what happened to him?"

"Alec knocked him out."

Clary stared at me in surprise, her mouth a little open. I shrugged. "It's been a long night." And that was that. We continued our slow- Percy, with his long arms and legs, was awkward to carry- walk to Magnus's house.

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**A/N: Sorry if it wasn't amazing, I did the best I could. This actually my second draft. The next chapter will be way better and will finally include other characters from Percy Jackson besides Percy.**

**Loved it? Hated it? Please review. Also tell me if the characters are OC, it would torment me if they were and no one told me.**

"***-*"****.**_willingwriter_


	7. The empathy link

**A/N: Ironically the movie of PJ is on while I'm writing this; it's actually putting me off. Btw, Percy did not lose to the shadowhunters, he was taken by surprise. It was two against one, also demigods and shadowhunters both have different fighting styles, it's like comparing Romans and Greek. They are equally as strong. Plus I'd never do that, I'm pro Percy. **

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Chapter 7

Percy's POV

I could see a familiar glittering lake in the distance. The landscape was dotted with Greek architecture, there was a cluster of cabins nearby and I could see kids, my age, in orange t-shirts milling around, some were shooting targets and others were horse riding- on Pegasus's. I could see what used to be Thalia's tree down the hill, and the sleeping dragon coiled around it. Above his head was the Golden Fleece, its magic created a border that protected the camp. And next to the dragon playing his reed pipe was Grover. He was wearing his green Nature Conservancy T-shirt, the one with pictures of endangered animals and stuff; he wasn't wearing his normal Rasta-style cap so his horns stuck out of his curly brown hair. He had a bushy goatee and shaggy legs which ended in hooves.

"Grover?"

"Percy?"Grover looked up; he stared right at me as if I was a TV show he didn't expect to show today. When I was thirteen, Grover had gone on a quest for Pan, but he had gotten into trouble with a Cyclops and had created an empathy link between us. Which, now thinking about it, I didn't worry about frequently enough. I didn't know the exact rules of it but from what I understood if either of us died the other might not survive it. And it was a _big_ might.

"Grover, I think I might be in trouble. I've been kidnapped," my dream-self responded.

"Percy are you project- wait, again?" Grover responded with no sense of irony. He'd stopped playing his reed pipes and they now dangled uselessly in his left hand. The dragon was slowly waking up, now that Grover had stopped lolling him to sleep, its jewelled coloured eyes watched Grover lazily.

"Yes again."

Grover chewed his bottom lip worriedly. "Was it Hera?"

"No. It was this weird people who call themselves shadowhunters. I don't think they're mortal."

Grover paled, his hand clawed over his heart and then shoved out. It was a gesture made to ward off evil. I was instantly suspicious. "Grover do you know anything about shadowhunters?"

"No, but the word gave me a bad feeling, names have power Percy."Grover swallowed, then seemed to come to a decision because his shoulders were tense, like he was steeling himself up for what he was for what he was about to do. "We'll rescue you, I'll call the others."

"Others?" I was alarmed; I didn't want anyone else involved in my mess. I didn't even know where I was right now. My eyes hadn't been opened since... since Alec punched me in the face. "No, Grover. Don't tell anyone, these guys can't know what I am. I'm not in real danger... as in they're not trying to kill me- I think."

Grover looked doubtful. "Percy, Annabeth freaked the last time you went missing."

"I promise, I'm handling it. I'm not in danger," I lied through my teeth.

"Percy, I can tell you're in pain."

"I can handle it," I said again, through gritted teeth. I tried not to think of what was waiting for me when I opened my eyes, maybe an angry swarm of teens in black.

"I'm going to ask Chiron about it just in case."

I opened my mouth to protest-

"Percy they could be a danger to us." I said nothing; I'd never wilfully endanger my camp or anyone in it.

"If you have to." I was speaking louder and faster, I could hear music in my head...I was regaining consciousness. "But don't tell Annabeth!"

I awoke- in a huge, dark loft- to the lyrics of: _if you like pina colados_ and was instantly convinced that I must be in hell or a version of it because that was the same song I heard while leaving Tarturaus only months ago. And leaning over me was glitter guy, his expression pleased. I scowled in reply; I didn't find kidnapping funny. Two shadowhunters stood beside him, I recognised Alec's dark hair and Jace's blond one. Alec blushed when I glared at him, he looked guilty- I ignored him. Jace on the other hand looked smug; he was turning out to be even more irritating than Ares, which I didn't think was possible.

"Turn that off," I groaned. My hands clutched my head.

"What, you don't like _Escape_?" I glared at Magnus.

He pulled out his phone, which was where the song was coming from, and pressed what I assumed was the end call button. I tried not to be alarmed by the fact that he had a phone so close to me. Monsters would only care if _I _was using the phone- I hoped.

"Next time just pick up the call." Even Jace looked put out.

Magnus shrugged. "I don't pick up calls from unknown numbers. It keeps people from bothering me with their petty problems." He gave Jace a pointed look.

I glanced around the room; its dirty floor-to-ceiling windows left me distinctly unimpressed, if I tried to jump through the glass I'd probably need a tetanus shot. The only escape route was a rickety stairway across the room, which I suspected lead to the exit, but I seriously doubted I could make it out without fighting.

Magnus chuckled. "The door is warded even if you got past us, you wouldn't be able to leave." Today sucked.

I glared at all three of them, wondering if it was worth it to break the piping and flood the room with water. "What do you plan to do with me?"

A shamefaced Alec responded. "Magnus is going to wipe your memory of the last four hours and then we'll take you home."

All the pipes in the house creaked; I looked down at my clenched hands. Cool it Percy, I thought. The creaking stopped. Then there was a loud, angry banging.

"What the-,"shouted an irritated Magnus as he went downstairs to answer the door.

Thirty seconds later a tall girl with raven coloured hair marched in, her mouth frozen in an angry scowl. She had dark eyes and what I could see of her skin was covered in strange marks, just like the others. Shadowhunter.

"My house is not grand central station, neither is it a hostel for young shadowhunters," Magnus complained.

"Izzie." Jace smiled at the girl, her scowl increased.

"What did you guys think you were doing leaving me alone at the institute with mom?"

"Last we saw you, you were on a date with Simon," Alec pointed out. The girl, Izzie, clearly didn't appreciate it. She glared at Alec as if she was trying to kill him with a look. I looked at the both of them; the family resemblance was hard to miss. Clearly they were siblings.

"Well, I didn't sleep over if that's what you're asking."

"I wasn't." Alec looked ill.

"We're glad you came over Isabelle," Jace said in a way that I wasn't sure if he meant it or was mocking her. Obviously Isabelle wasn't either because she shot him another death glare.

Maybe I could convince this girl, Isabelle, to free me to spite her brother. "A little help, please?" The girl turned to me, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Is he a demon?" She asked Magnus while gesturing to me.

"No, he claims he's a mundane," Jace responded.

"You guys _kidnapped_ a mundane?" She sounded so shocked, maybe kidnapping people wasn't normal around here. They could have fooled me.

"He knows what we are and we're only trying to wipe his memory so he'll forget. He should be happy, if the clave finds out they might send the silent brothers to do it, this is _way_ better."

What did he mean silent brothers? I kept picturing meditating monks who only spoke through sign language, but I shook off the image. Monks were peaceful, like Ghandi, not kidnappers.

"Who is he?" Isabelle only looked curious now. "He's good looking and he kind of looks like a shadowhunter," she said, slowly taking me in.

"You have a boyfriend."

"Alec is not like I'm asking him out, jeez, you can be such a prude. It's not like you don't agree, do you?"

Alec looked uncomfortable, his mouth opened to retort but nothing came out.

"He's not a shadowhunter, his last name is Jackson and the only thing he had on him was a cheap plastic pen, a couple of dollars and some exotic gold coins. No weapons."

I was incensed. "You guys searched me?"

Jace only shrugged. "We wanted to make sure you weren't carrying. You _did _stalk us after all." Ironically the same thoughts I had hours earlier about Alec.

Magnus glared at us all. "Let's get this show on the road. It might not look like it but I have better things to do."

"Cleaning your windows should be made top priority on your to do list." Magnus only smiled at me, something about me seemed to amuse him, like I was a cockroach who could talk.

Isabelle smirked. "And he's funny too, Jace what are you going to do?"

Jace looked affronted. "Nothing comes close to my awesomeness. He's clearly a knock off."

Knock off? This guy could give the Aphrodite cabin a run for its money. I smiled at Isabelle, the only person here who'd given me a compliment. "Is he normally this annoying?"

She grinned. "No, today he seems extremely jealous." Jace scowled.

Magnus sighed. "At this rate this is going to take forever."

He raised his hands up and was about to put it on my head when I moved. I stood up and assumed a fighting stance. I wasn't feeling weak anymore, even without ambrosia demigods healed fast. "I'm not letting you guys anywhere near my head." I searched my pockets for riptide, the pen was there, I pulled it out but I didn't uncap it.

The shadowhunters, including Isabelle tensed, and brought out weapons. Magnus looked calm, he gestured for them to put their weapons back. I was grateful... until I realised his mouth was moving and I suddenly began to feel sleepy, I fell to the ground with horror unable to combat the unnatural sleep.

I felt the presence of Magnus inside my head like an ice cold shower and I fought him. To distract him I brought up memories of all the movies I'd watched, and while he tried to dive out of them, I pushed him out. Hard.

I opened my eyes long enough to see him fall to the floor- his forehead creased with exertion- then I fainted. I'd expended too much energy.

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	8. Not again!

Chapter 8

Annabeth's POV

I stood in front of the mirror, critically examining my clothes. My hair was a mess, half of it had come undone out of its rigid ponytail, but that was easily solved. I removed the rubber band and efficiently put my hair into an even stricter ponytail, one that'd be harder to muss. I straightened my shirt, tucking the burnt edges in my geans. There were a few scratches on my arm from where the fiend had scratched me but nothing alarming. I nodded, satisfied. I looked like a typical seventeen year old, albeit a little dishevelled, which was _way_ better than I looked a few minutes ago. The attack had taken me by surprise, but at least the empousai was now resting in peace (hopefully, pieces) in Tataurus. The world's worst vacation spot, home to many monsters.

I glanced at the watch strapped to my hands, I'd missed my flight and the next one wasn't for a few hours. I groaned, sometimes being a demigod was quite inconvenient. I gave myself a grim smile in the mirror. Tomorrow I'll be with Percy, and we'll have our first official date in months. A surprisingly girly grin broke out; I was looking forward to my week with seaweed brain, my _danger_-free week.

I was just about to leave the restroom when I heard my name. I turned around and came face to face with a rainbow hued Grover. "Grover?"

He blinked at me. "Annabeth, am I in a bathroom?"

I looked around in horror, but there was no one, the stalls were still as empty as they were when I checked five minutes ago. "The _ladies_ bathroom, to be precise."

Grover swallowed nervously, clearly unsettled. I could make out a strawberry field behind him. He was Iris messaging me from camp. "Is something wrong at camp?" I asked worriedly, instantly alarmed.

"What? No, camp's fine. I'm here about Percy."

Alarmed blossomed into full grown panic. "What about Percy?"

"He's been kidnapped."

I nearly swooned in shock. Not again. I seethed, already plotting to storm Mt Olympus and beg Hera to undo it. Whatever _it _was. "I'll make Hera undo it," I said confidently, trying to ignore the fact that I couldn't make the Queen of gods do anything. It didn't help that we mutually detested each other.

Grover looked startled. "No, Annabeth, it wasn't Hera. Not this time."

I was confused. Was it monsters or maybe another god?

"Percy's been kidnapped by shadowhunters," Grover clarified.

I ransacked my mind for the term. No, it wasn't familiar. "Is it Greek? Grover, hurry up before people start coming in." I glanced at the door nervously. If only I had something to jam it with.

"No, they're something entirely different." I didn't like the way he said it, the ominous tone put me on edge. Grover grimaced, as if he'd swallowed something bad. His eyes rounded with what looked like shock. I recognised that look, the same look I had when Percy told me it was Luke who stole the lightning bolt five years ago, or when I'd first heard the Prophecy of the seven, or when... when Percy had gone missing a few months ago.

"What do you know about them?" I asked calmly, hysterics would only slow down the process of extracting information, wasting precious time.

Grover explained about the message he got from Percy through the empathy link. I was annoyed that Percy wanted to handle this by himself. Sometimes he was such a seaweed brain. "Chiron wants to speak to you."

A second later Chiron's concerned smile was in view. His thinning hair and scruffy beard gave him a fatherly vibe. He was one of my favourite people. "Annabeth, I'm afraid Percy might be in danger. Shadowhunters are a bit of a mystery. They haven't been around long and even _I _know almost nothing about them."

"Why do they want Percy?"

Chiron frowned, he looked puzzled. "Your guess is as good as mine. Worst case scenario they know what Percy is. I really hope that's not it. From what I know about shadowhunters they're intolerant of something different. They might be driven to desperate actions if they consider Percy or his kind a threat. It'd be the Greeks versus Romans all over again."

I swallowed. "Best case scenario?"

"It's all a mistake. Maybe he stumbled onto what they are. They might let him go." Chiron looked doubtful.

"What if they don't?" My heart was beating so loud I could hear it. My hand felt damp, saving Percy might prove to be more difficult than convincing Hera to do anything.

"Then you'll need to find Percy and rescue him."Even though I didn't need permission I was pleased to get it. "Annabeth," he said gravely, "do so in a way that doesn't reveal what you are. There are reasons the gods have kept their existence a secret, vice versa for shadowhunters."

I nodded. "I understand."

"These people are dangerous and just as skilled as demigods. You'll need the seven." I grimaced, ever since we defeated Gaea that's all we were. The seven. As if our individual personalities and talents had morphed into one. I didn't resent having to work with the rest of the seven, in fact I respected them, but I didn't want to burden them. Just because we'd been burdened by the gods the first time didn't mean I had the right to do the same. But I couldn't deny that it'd be more sensible to have such a skilled group, a group that had already handled the worst. And I was nothing if not sensible.

"Got it. Rescue Percy. Don't reveal what we are. But what if they already know?"

Chiron gave me a solemn look. "It might be worse than the Trojan war."

I swallowed, again. "Right." My throat was suddenly dry and scratchy. Worse, I kept hovering between panic for Percy and worry if the worst case scenario were to happen. We'd just been to war, I didn't want another one.

"I'll contact the rest. Can I speak to Grover?" I asked, already forming a plan. I was going to best these shadowhunters like a true child of Athena.

Chiron disappeared and Grover now appeared. "Are Piper, Jason and Leo still at camp?" I asked.

"Leo is, but Piper and Jason have gone to visit her father."

Ok. Now to ask a very important question. "Can you track Percy using the empathy link or is something blocking you? Like last time."

"No, nothing's blocking me."

"Then saddle up. Bring Leo too, we'll need him. _Don't _let him bring the Argo II, we need to be as discreet as possible. I'll contact the others; you guys head to Percy's mum's house. Even if you get there before I do, don't start without me. Knowing Leo he'll probably do something to irritate them. My flight will take too long, so I'll have to convince Nico to transport me to New York."

Grover gave me a nod. Good, he understood. I didn't admit that I had doubts. Nico was probably in Los Angeles, or most likely _under _it, and didn't have the strength to shadow travel from there to San Francisco, then to New York- especially, with me at his side. I didn't admit that I was scared for Percy and that I was afraid that there'd no peaceful way of resolving this. I didn't admit any of this, not even to myself. I just got into a random stall, not taking the chance that I'd be spotted by mortals, pulled out the spray I kept in my backpack to make rainbows, closed my eyes briefly and wished for the best, or at least for it to go better than when we first visited the Roman camp.

**A/N: I realise that this might be a little unprecedented, but for the next chapter I'll need your help. I live in England, so I have no clear geography of America. Can someone please answer these following questions: How long does it take to get to New York from San Francisco by plane? How long does it take to get to New York from Long Island, where the camp is located- also by plane? What major cities lie between Seattle and New York? Is there an ocean the demigods will have to cross? You know, the boring questions. Er... pretty please. If worse comes to worst I'll consult Google maps.**

**Loved it? Hated it? Please Review.**

"***-*".**_willingwriter_


	9. We storm the house

**A/N: Sorry for taking longer than usual, I was stressing over exam results, now that I know I've passed all my motivation and enthusiasm has returned in buckets. Also thank you everyone for your help with the geography questions.**

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Chapter nine

Annabeth POV

There were four heads closely bent together, clearly discussing something. All wore plumed Roman helmets of the same colour. They whispered to each other urgently. "Frank?" I asked, hoping to catch their attention.

They all looked up, but I could only recognize the faces of Frank and Hazel. Frank startled a little when he saw me, he mouthed my name to the familiar dark skinned girl beside him. Hazel looked panicked, but I didn't think it was about my unexpected IM because she kept looking around her nervously. That's when I noticed that they were all heavily armoured and gripping weapons. Clearly, I had interrupted something.

"Who's that girl? And why is she Iris Messaging us right now." She heard one of the other two ask, it was a boy.

"Annabeth, she's a daughter of Athena," Frank whispered. He opened his mouth to say something but then he heard a sound. I think he did, his heard was tilted a little and his brow was furrowed in concentration.

"Annabeth, this is a bad time we're in the middle of war games and I think you just gave away our position. I will Iris Message you later," Hazel said apologetically.

"Then I'll keep it brief," I replied, somewhat testily. "Percy's been kidnapped."

Frank physically slumped in shock, while Hazel's gold eyes widened in disbelief. "Was it Hera?" they asked simultaneously, their game forgotten, much to the obvious ire of the other two.

"Next time, I think we should just yell our positions," said the girl, sounding annoyed. Hazel shot them a warning look causing the girl raise up her had in submission.

"Might as well get some kool aid," the boy muttered, "from the cheers in the background we've lost anyway."

"No, it wasn't Hera," I replied, ignoring the rude mutterings of the boy and the girl as they left. "He was kidnapped by shadowhunters."

Both Hazel's and Frank's foreheads creased up in confusion. "Is that Greek?" Frank said, slowly recovering his composure.

"No, they're something else apparently."

"Something else," echoed Hazel, sounding even more confused.

I nodded, hoping to keep the conversation as minimal as possible. I needed to contact Nico and I didn't know if anyone had entered the ladies bathroom yet. Even though, most of the conversation was whispered, I was afraid that a mortal might still overhear. I flushed the toilet so it would drown out any noise coming from this stall. "They're dangerous too. Chiron thinks rescuing Percy won't be easy, he suspects it might go about as well as our first visit to your camp."

Hazel and Frank paled, no doubt remembering the potent anger of the Romans when Leo fired a canon at them. We couldn't even stick around long enough to tell them it was an accident, not that they'd have listened. "How can we help?" Frank asked, taking charge.

I told them both what they needed to do and they agreed. "If we take Arion we'll be there in just a few hours, maybe faster."

"Don't take Arion," I protested. "We need to be discreet, especially now, shadowhunters cannot know demigods exist."

"Just a few months ago we went from city to city in a huge flying ship," Hazel pointed out, "If they didn't know then..."

I had to concede to Hazel's point. A flying ship decorated with canons didn't exactly scream discrete. If the mist had been powerful enough to hide _that_ then Arion shouldn't really raise a flag. It also helped that Arion was incredibly fast and smart- not the type of horse to let himself be seen by mortals and hopefully shadowhunters. "Fine, just get to Percy's mum's house as fast as you can. And IM Jason and Piper, let them know what happened, before you leave."

Less than a minute later I was staring into the sullen countenance of Nico Di Angelo and in the background was a familiar two headed dog.

"What do you want?" Nico asked a little testily.

Knowing Nico it was probably better I cut to the chase, so without a greeting or a 'how are you?' I announced, "Percy has been kidnapped and I need your help."

Nico's only reaction was a slight widening of his eyes; otherwise he was calm, clearly waiting for me to say more. "I need you to teleport me to New York, I missed my flight and if I wait for the next one it might be too late."

He wore his usual uniform of black jeans and an aviator jacket, the jacket, as always, hung awkwardly on his skinny frame. "Where are you?" he asked evenly. I was glad that he didn't demand information like the rest- time was of the essence.

"I'm at the San Francisco airport. Get here as fast you can." He nodded, then the shadows around him converged together, surrounding him, covering him and soon he was gone.

I calmly ate a cookie, despite the gnawing nervousness in my stomach. I'd been watching the airport main doorway for an hour and still no sign of Nico. I was about to find another toilet so I could deliver an angry Iris Message, when I spotted a familiar boy with pale skin and messy black hair. Thankfully, his Stygian iron sword was hidden; I wondered how we'd have been able to explain _that_ to security.

Instead of coming through the automatic glass doors, he stayed just outside of it. I shrugged on my backpack and went out to meet him.

We didn't say anything, just walked in silence- making sure to be far away from the airport or any mortal before we shadow travelled.

Experiencing shadow travel was unpleasant to say the least; by the time we landed in Colorado I was dizzy and sick. I felt like I'd gone on a roller coaster ride that'd never end.

I was sitting on a random bench, when Nico came back from his walk. We decided to at least rest in Colorado before we made the rest of the journey to New York. He awkwardly handed me a flap jack. "Sugar helps."

I accepted it gratefully, the pounding in my head had only dulled slightly. "Thank you."

Nico shrugged, he glanced around the fairly busy town edgily. I understood, we were in the view of too many people, you never know when a monster might sneak up on you. I ate quickly, one hand anxiously gripping my drakon-bone sword. "We should probably get going," Nico suggested.

And though shadow travelling was the last thing I wanted to do, I reluctantly gave Nico my hand and soon we were off.

When we finally arrived at Percy's mum's house, an hour later, I felt like I could kiss the ground. I couldn't help but be grateful that until now Nico had never volunteered to teleport me anywhere. The walk to Percy's mum's flat took forever in my mind, though it was actually only five minutes, since we couldn't shadow travel the rest of the way without risking the security cameras catching Nico and I disappear, and after hours of shadow travelling Nico looked dead on his feet. I held on to his waist tightly, in case he fainted- he probably would have protested but he could barely speak.

The door was answered on the third ring by a Latino boy with curly black hair and a mischievous smile. "Took you long enough, I thought punctuality was kind of Athena's thing."

I didn't dignify that with an answer; instead, I pushed Leo aside and made my way to the leaving room, in search of a comfortable surface on which to drop Nico. I laid him down on a long sofa, took out a cube of ambrosia from my backpack and gently shoved it into his mouth; luckily, he had enough consciousness to chew by himself.

"Whoa, what happened to him?" Leo asked coming into the living room with Mrs Jackson in tow. She gave Nico a concerned frown, her eyes darting to me as if for assurance.

"He'll be okay in a few minutes, he's been shadow travelling for hours." Mrs Jackson nodded, she looked a little different from when I last saw her, her eyes were a little bloodshot - a result of Percy's disappearance, I suspected. Worst of all, her smile now seemed brittle which made me think she was _very_ close to a nervous breakdown.

"You sure about that? Never seen the guy so pale, except when we rescued him from the giants. Boy was that a great day." Leo was currently fiddling with the TV remote control, which wasn't a surprise because if Leo hadn't been born a demigod I suspected he'd still have had ADHD. He always seemed to be constantly in motion.

"Where's Grover?" I asked him.

"Kitchen, he's been chewing on coca cola cans since we got here."

I checked on Nico again, pressing my hands to his head because with Nico paleness was not a very good indicator- he was always pale. He's skin was a little clammy but his body temperature was normal. He'd be almost back to normal in five minutes, which was about as much time as I could stand to wait before I hunted for Percy.

"I'll bring some toast and tea for both of you," Mrs Jackson volunteered.

"Thank you." I was glad that she was keeping it together; the last thing I could handle right now was a break down. As I watched her leave the living room, I couldn't help but think about how the stress of being the mortal parent of a demigod seemed to age her. It was the same weary look my dad got sometimes.

Toast proved to be very good for Nico, four minutes later he was back to his broody, unsociable self, which was just fine for me- I was ready to leave. Two minutes later, just when we were all ready to depart, Hazel showed up with an eagle on her shoulder.

"Why's Frank an eagle?" Leo asked, while checking his tool belt.

"He was scouting the area in case the shadowhunters were around."

Grover stopped filling his backpack to the brink with cans to give Hazel a weird look. "You don't know what they look like."

"We figured that we were looking for suspicious people who loiter around," said Frank, after he'd transformed back to his burly, human shaped self.

"And?" I prodded.

"Turns out there are a lot of people like that in New York."We all seemed to heave frustrated sighs in response, knowing what these shadow hunters looked like could have been an advantage we could have used.

No one looked twice at us; to them we were just an odd group of teenagers gallivanting around New York, not five powerful demigods and a satyr. Jason and Piper were still on their way and no matter how much that their strength might be needed I couldn't bring myself to wait. But I reasoned that taking more people would seem like an assault, we were trying to seem like normal humans in search of their friend. Our one advantage was that the shadow hunters wouldn't know that we are aware of what they are.

Grover led us through several alleyways and streets before we came to a standstill in front of a red bricked warehouse on a narrow avenue lined with old warehouses in Brooklyn. "He's in there," Grover said.

"With a name like shadowhunters I was expecting something cooler," Leo grumbled.

"Hazel, I need you and Leo to hide somewhere near here, near enough that you can hear us if we call for help." Hazel and Leo looked ready to argue. "Look, it'll be suspicious if we go in there with too many people. We don't want a confrontation." It was a few seconds before they agreed and went off in search of a place.

"Grover, you should probably go too."

Despite his slight trembling, Grover puffed up his chest. "No, Percy is my friend and as his guardian I will not abandon him."

"Then you can stay, Frank I need you to transform into a dog." Frank looked puzzled but I put up my hand in a gesture that I hope translated into 'just do it.' Two seconds later in Frank's place stood a Great Dane. "Nico, hide your sword."

Only then did we climb up the stairs that led to Percy, ignoring the foul-smell in the entryway. The naked bulb that hung from a cord overheard illuminated a row of apartment buzzers along the left one. "Which one?" Nico asked since he stood closest to the buzzers. I looked at Grover in askance.

After concentrating for what felt like forever to me, he told Nico to press the buzzer with the words _Bane_ next to it. Nico didn't waste his time with 'are you sures?' but pressed the buzzer with more force than was necessarily required. Nothing happened. He pressed it again. Just when he was about to press it for the third time, the door flew open.

A slender man in eccentric clothes, and gelled hair that sparkled with glitter stood in the doorway with a raised eyebrow. This just brought his catlike eyes into focus. "I'm not deaf, you know."

I gave the man an apologetic smile. "Sorry, we are looking for our friend Percy Jackson. His mum got worried when he went out and never came back."

"What does that have to with me?"

I widened my eyes. "Nothing Sir, it's just that Frank, my Great Dane, is an amazing tracker and he led us here." I gave Frank's golden head an affectionate pat, he barked like a real dog.

The man regarded Frank suspiciously. "I've not seen you friend."

"Can we come in?" Grover asked seeming to regain his confidence; he'd been staring wide eyed at the man for the past two minutes.

"No but if I see your friend I'll call," the man said while closing the door.

I stuck my foot in before it could close completely, while smiling sweetly at him I said, "Then we'll just have to call the police to check this place out."

The man gave me a look filled with grudging respect. "I'll see if my partner knows something." He craned his head back and yelled, "Alec. _Alec_!"

In the next minute there was a tall boy with dark hair and blue eyes standing in the doorway, he gave us a look that would have come off as curious if not for his guilty flush. This people definitely knew something. "We're looking for this boy," I said, gesturing to a picture of Percy I took out of my wallet.

"Eh, who are you people?" he asked a little nervously.

"This is Nico, his cousin," I replied, gesturing to a pensive looking Nico while trying to subtly dissuade him from trying whatever he was planning. Athena -not Hades -made the plans for a reason. "This is his friend Grover and I am Annabeth Chase- his girlfriend."

He shot us a practiced look of indifference. "I've not seen this boy," he denied firmly. I couldn't help smiling, they had just fallen into my trap.

"That's funny because his mum, Mrs Jackson, said a tall boy with black hair, light blue eyes and clothes _just_ like yours came to collect a cat."

Nico smirked, for a second his eyes were filled with admiration, then he seemed to remember that he didn't like me- for whatever reason, I didn't really know.

"We don't know anything," Magnus said tightly. I was getting angry, I never realised being diplomatic instead of barging in with weapons drawn was such a long process. I gripped Frank's fur tightly, telling him to attack.

While Magnus and Alec were distracted by a five hundred pound Great Dane, Nico, Grover and I took advantage of the situation and slipped in. When Alec moved to grab us it was too late. We were already inside.

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**A/N: Hope you liked it, it only took hours, but this is the longest chapter I've written so far. I'm so proud. BTW, won't be updating for a while, bridging the gap homework is catching up with me and trust me- it's not optional.**

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**"*-*". _Willingwriter_.**


	10. In come the calvary

**A/N: sorry for the late update and for some reason I keep reading this in a bad southern drawl because I don't what New Yorkers sound like.**

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Chapter ten

Percy's POV

I woke up a minute later, feeling slightly embarrassed about being unconscious for the second time in as many minutes. Unfortunately, Magnus had recovered too; he was now slumped on his sofa. Alec sat beside him, his hands fluttering around Magnus like a doctor, trying to examine him for bruises.

"Alec, I said I was okay."

Alec's expression was resolute and he continued to examine Magnus. "You just fell down a minute ago."

"Ah, but the miracle is I got right back up."

"And even if there was anything wrong with him he'd have healed by now," added Isabelle as she casually inspected her nails.

They were yet to take notice of me; this would have been a brilliant time to attack, if I wasn't so exhausted. Today's strenuous activities had taken their toll on me and I believed Magnus when he said there was no way out. The best plan would be to recover my strength and wait for an opportunity. Once again I was in a bind, although I'd have to say I preferred being chased by unkillable Gorgons instead.

"Hey, Seagreen is awake," Jace commented. He still towered over me with his weapon drawn. The others looked up in surprise, Alec's expression was slightly furious. I glared at him back. I wasn't to blame for what had just happened.

I looked directly at Magnus, not even flinching at the aura of power that surrounded him. I had taken on Ares, admittedly he wasn't using his powers to fight me at the time, and I could take him too. "Don't _ever_ try to get inside my head again."

"I can't anyway," Magnus responded, sounding annoyed. "There's a wall and I ran smack into it."

I should have been glad but all could think about was how that wall could have gotten there. More evidence that the gods could not, would not, let me be. Hera had erased my memory without my permission, leaving me to wander around in confusion for seven months!

Jace looked at me suspiciously. "Why would a mundane have a mind block?"

I shrugged with feigned indifference. "The reason is probably behind the wall that's blocking me from accessing it. So, yeah, I don't know."

The silence that followed was eventually broken by the sound of a doorbell. Wow, popular place, I thought. Once again Magnus stumped downstairs looking even more irritated than before, his progress slightly hindered by the fact that he hadn't fully recovered.

I listened intently, curious about whom it might be. My guess was another shadowhunter. I was fairly certain that now the door was open I could go through it. But I wasn't so certain I could make it with three shadowhunters after me and an immortal blocking the exit.

Isabelle chuckled as she read something on her phone, her face becoming even prettier now that she wasn't scowling.

"So you and Simon are sexting now?" Jace's trademark smirk was ever present.

Alec looked up in alarm; he stared at his sister in horror. Isabelle rolled her eyes, clearly used to Jace's antics. "No, we're not sexting. Although I won't smirk so much Jace, if I were you, I can easily get the down low on _your_ relationship from Clary. And Alec, what Simon and I do is none of your business."

Alec scowled back. "I know but I'd also not like to hear about my sister's sex life."

"Good because I'm not planning to discuss it with you anytime soon."

"Alec. Alec!" Magnus shouted loudly enough to startle us. Alec left to answer, looking a little bewildered. Another unexpected and possibly unwanted guest on the way, I thought. One down, two to go. Not surprisingly Jace hadn't let up; his sword was still pointed at my chest, almost dead centre.

"Mum wants to know when we're coming back," said Isabelle without looking up from her phone. "Ever since it cooled down and there's been no threat of war she won't stop texting. It doesn't help that dad is in Idris."

"Where's Idris?" I asked curiously.

"England," Isabelle said quickly, almost too quickly. Jace stopped pointing his weapon at me and moved restlessly towards the stairs. "Do you think they're in trouble?"

Jace cocked his head, as if he was listening intently to something. "Don't know. Someone is coming." Isabelle stood up, carefully unwinding the gold bracelet on her wrist. She too went over to the stairway, they both watched and waited. I was impressed by their stillness, when they moved it hardly made a sound and again I wondered at what they were. It seemed to me that they had the skills of demigods but I knew for sure they weren't Greek or Roman. Maybe they were another branch of mythology? They could be anything from Norse to Egyptian. Hey, if Zeus was real why can't Loki be?

Curious, I joined them. It was only a second later when a familiar blonde girl appeared, her walk was determined and I could tell from the stiffness of her posture that she was angry. Very angry.

"Percy!" Annabeth shouted, Nico and Grover following in her wake. I was stunned. What were they doing here? I narrowed my eyes at Grover though he couldn't see me. He must have told her and it looks like she brought the cavalry. Without much thought I pushed my way through Jace and Isabelle, about to descend the stairs, when I was viciously pulled back.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jace hissed. His golden eyes were now as hard as flint. My answer was to take his hand off mine, my movements equally as vicious.

Jace grinned at me like a maniac, clearly spoiling for a fight. And although I wanted to, I wanted my girlfriend even more.

"I won't let you go," Jace said cockily. "Not until you fight me, do you understand that Seagreen? Don't worry about your girlfriend, she's a little busy."

I looked down to see a very angry Isabelle facing off an even angrier Annabeth but they appeared to be arguing instead of actually fighting. Alec stormed in looking annoyed; he glared at both Annabeth and his sister, especially when Isabelle's hand itched towards her partly unwrapped bracelet. What she didn't realise was that Annabeth was probably clutching Drakon bone in the hand that was casually shoved into her jumper's pocket.

I examined the scene closer, although Nico had ample opportunity he hadn't drawn his sword and Grover was busy tossing cans at Isabelle. She deflected them easily; abandoning Annabeth she stormed towards Grover, fully unwinding her bracelet and holding it in her hands like a whip. Grover whimpered.

Both Annabeth and Alec dragged her back but she pushed them away in anger. "Don't you dare touch him," Annabeth shouted.

"He threw cans at my head, _cans_!"

"You're lucky I ran out of apples," Grover replied.

I turned back, only just quickly enough to dodge a punch to the stomach from Jace. Moving away from the stairwell, I quickly went into a defensive position. It was strange fighting without a weapon.

"Why did you follow us Percy?" Jace asked honestly.

I decided to be honest too. "Because I could sense that you weren't normal."

Jace shrugged, seeming to accept that. "I'll let you have first hit."

He was crazy, only kids of Ares were this obsessed with fighting. He saw my questioning look. "It's been pretty dull around here and I don't know why but you look like you'd be decent competition."

So I swiped at him, he grinned as he easily dodged it. In retaliation he swung his foot to kick me but I caught it and used it to flip him, he landed on the floor with a satisfying crash. I had to admit this was kind of fun.

A few seconds later Jace was up again. "Not bad Seagreen. I can tell you're strong, whatever you are..."

I gave a noncommittal shrug. "I do a lot of running." For my life, I completed silently.

I mirrored Jace's fighting stance. My legs were spread about shoulder's width apart and my knees were slightly bent, this way I was completely balanced. Jace and I circled each other, watching for tells. Finally, his feet twitched slightly, I anticipated the kick but not how low it was going to be, which made it difficult to dodge. His leg hooked around mine and soon I was flat back on the floor feeling slightly stunned. Adrenaline pumping, I got up. Hand swinging, thumb in, I punched the space beside Jace, because with catlike reflexes the irritating shadowhunter had dodged it.

With a simple maneuver he was behind me. Before I could turn around he grabbed me around my throat, lightly crushing my windpipe. With a simple shoulder thrust, he was sprawled on his back in front of me. He groaned slightly at the impact of his body hitting the hard ground. I grinned at him. Shaking my muscles loose, I prepared to go on the attack.

But when I tried to move I physically couldn't. And by the strained expression on Jace's face, neither could he. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Magnus coming up the stairs, his cat-like eyes sparkling dangerously and his mouth moving rapidly.

"Magnus unfreeze me," Jace said tightly.

Magnus rolled his eyes. "And let you continue to your fight in my house. No, thank you."

"Alec, tell your boyfriend that I don't have time for this," Jace shouted. A second later I could hear someone coming up the stairs.

"No," Alec replied. "We can't go around beating up mundanes."

Jace levelled a look at someone behind me, I assumed it was Alec. "Do you really believe he's a mundane? Because my shadowhunter instincts are begging to get a weapon in my hand. No 'mundane' makes me feel like that. And _you _were the one who knocked him unconscious." Silence, it seems there was nothing Alec could say to defend himself.

Magnus walked fully into my viewpoint, his eyes a little too knowing for my liking as he stared at me. "I activated a ward and froze everyone downstairs too. I will unfreeze them, all your friends included, and I'll let you all go."

He didn't glow like a god, but he was powerful and at this point kind of scary. I tried to nod in understanding but I still couldn't move, so I mouthed okay. Magnus smiled and whispered something and suddenly I was free. It happened slowly, my toes were the first thing to move, and then the tingling sensation worked its way upwards. "Why?" I asked, stretching out my hands.

Magnus shrugged. "I don't know what you and your friends are but I have a pretty good idea. If the Clave finds out you exist and perceive you as a threat then we will have another war on our hands."

"What are you?" I asked, a little curious.

"I'm Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn, technically New York, but it doesn't sound quite as urbane." He gave me a flirty wink and shooed me down the stairs with a casual wave.

* * *

**A/N: OMG, that was hard. Has Rick Riordan ever described a fight scene where Percy does not use his powers or any kind of weapon, just hand to hand combat? The answer is no. Next time anyone fights in this fanfic it'll be with weapons or powers. I'm so tired, this took hours.**

**Loved it? Hated it? Review. **

"***-*". **_**Willing writer**_


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